Up to 10,000 Ebola vaccines to be made during trials

Up to 10,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine will be produced at the same time that clinical trials of the drug are taking place so they can be ready for emergency deployment if it proves effective.

GlaxoSmithKline said Phase I trials would start on the vaccine they are co-developing with the US National Institutes of Health, as soon as they received ethical and regulatory approvals.

It is expected to be given to healthy volunteers in Britain and the United States to determine whether the vaccine is safe and if it provokes a protective immune response, from about mid-September.

The tests, which they aim to complete by the end of 2014, will then be extended to Gambia and Mali, after which vaccines could be deployed on an emergency basis.

GSK also plans to begin making up to about 10,000 additional doses of its vaccine at the same time as the initial clinical trials, so if they are successful vaccine could be made available immediately for an emergency immunization program.